A 911 caller reported seeing the person, believed to be male, in the concrete ditch about 4 p.m., said Jeff Murdock, spokesman for the Escondido Fire Department.

Emergency personnel found the body in the area of West Valley Parkway and Tulip Street, Murdock said.

As of 5:30 p.m., firefighters were still working to safely remove the body from the culvert, the spokesman said.

The grisly discovery was made on a day when rainfall pounded the region. More than a half-dozen one-day precipitation records were broken in the San Diego area, according to the National Weather Service. The historic tallies include 10.1 inches at Palomar Observatory; 4.02 inches in Ramona; 3.75 inches in Campo; 3.01 inches in Vista; 2.94 inches in Alpine ; 2.68 inches in Borrego; and 1.28 inches at Oceanside Harbor.

Due to the heavy rainfall, power outages, flooding and road closures, the San Diego County Office of Education announced classes at schools in the Bonsall Unified School District, Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, Fallbrook Union High School District, Mountain Empire Unified School District and the Vallecitos School District are canceled Friday.

Classes are scheduled to resume next week.

The National Weather Service says the flood warning for San Diego County was allowed to expire at 5:15 p.m. The NWS reports the widespread, heavy rain has ended, with only residual light to moderate rain occurring over the mountains and parts of the desert. Flooding is no longer expected to pose a significant threat, but people should remain alert for residual standing water in poorly drained locales Thursday evening.

A wind advisory will remain in effect in the local mountains until 4 a.m. Saturday.